Shortening a mold

[gnoahhh]

The discussion on another forum regarding shortening a mold got me to thinking. Has anyone here shortened a 311291 mold to remove the gas check shank to create a plain base bullet? I regret letting my 311241 PB mold go, and rather than search out another one I'm tempted to alter the 311291 since I can't remember the last time I used it. My chief concern is if the lower drive band would be beefy enough to serve as the base for a PB bullet. (That or anybody want to do a swap?)

[BABore]

Shorten it to obtain the bottom driving band length you want, then use a boring bar to remove what's left of the GC shank. No worries that way. Done all the time.

[Catshooter]

If you search this forum for threads by me you'll find several wherein I did just that. Worked great, I even did one where I added gas checks. That worked out well too.


Cat

[Molly]

Not QUITE what you're asking for, but I shortened a 38 wadcutter once. Orig 148g bullet now 75g. Three of them fit in a 357 case - though just barely. Worked fine! I put them over a compressed load of 2400 or 4227 (depending on what I had on hand) for a load that will get any perp's attention. They shoot just above point of aim, and cluster together nicely: A neat little triangle about 2 inches on a side at across-the-room distances. Shortening molds to get what you want is a very valid option.

[geargnasher]

Erik Ohlen at Hollowpointmold-dot-com is an expert at this. Check out his website, I think he has his phone# posted there, too, he's a true gentleman.

Gear

[stubshaft]

Erik does great work as well as Buckshot on this forum.